All the intrigue that had been bubbling all season over
Afghanistan, Yousaf and the CIA got a hell of a payoff this week. Philip and
Elizabeth suggest to Abassin Zadran that his fellow Mujahideen members are
communists in disguise who might prevent him from getting American weapons and
Zadran brutally stabs his friends with the CIA just outside.
This was the most dangerous mission the Jennings couple has
ever undertaken, posing as CIA agents to fool actual CIA agents. They were also
very close to death in that car as Zadran revealed his passionate hatred of
communists to two undercover communists. Philip had to be thinking of his son
when the Afghani told him what he’d do to infidels like the Soviet soldiers.
With the death of the Mujahideen and their leader apparently in American
custody for murder, that’s fewer people who can kill Mischa Jr.
Paige is really her parents’ daughter, questioning her
history and family as she reviews a sort of greatest hits of The Americans’ adventures. She’s
thinking like a spy and looking for things that others might not notice but
that seem out of place to her. It has to be lonely as a Jennings child, having
no family beyond the four of them. The relationship with Paige is so delicate
and so crucial that Elizabeth and Philip are also in potential danger just
living with her, as one word to an authority figure would mean their heads.
I don’t know about this trip to the USSR, which I assume
will happen next episode and lead to a hell of a cliffhanger. This could go
either way: Either Paige can find some connection with her grandmother and
Mother Russia or she will rebel against it further. Or the trip will be botched
and they will all die horribly.
The three sweetest words in the opening credits of The Americans are “with Margo
Martindale” so we were very excited. Claudia did what she does best on this
show: Offer grave pronouncements and reveal secrets. This time it’s that they
almost shut down Directorate S after Jared killed his family, yet the young
illegals program continues.
Stan is closer to the truth about the illegals than he
knows, drawing a line from shooting Elizabeth in season one to the death of his
partner. It was a nice bit of misdirection to have Clark going to Martha’s
apartment and then show Stan sitting there having tea with her. He must suspect
her of planting the bug and she must know that and want nothing to do with it.
Before I realized Hans tipped off Clark that Stan was at Martha’s, I was afraid
Clark would walk in, Stan would recognize him as Philip and all hell would
break loose.
Oh God, Martha. She knows she’s doomed. She’s seeing her
situation more clearly, with a husband who must stay away from the FBI and a
strange man offering her a ride to a safe house. After she called her parents,
I thought for a second that she was saying goodbye before killing herself. Just
run away, Martha. Get somewhere with a lot of witnesses and stay there. There
was that throwaway line from Philip about the two of them having to go away and
I wonder if that meant he would send her somewhere and not follow despite
promises that he would, or if “going away” is a euphemism for death or what.
The last scene, with Martha weeping as Clark pulled off his
wig (looking for a second like he would pull off his face), was stunning. This
is Philip’s Hail Mary move, stripping down to honesty to get Martha not to turn
on him.
I should invest in a defibrillator before watching the
season finale.
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